Halloween Masquerade
by XoXKeii-chanXoX
Summary: It's Casey's first day at Ouran Academy after transferring over from America, and she already gets dragged to the host club. However, a certain black-haired host catches her eye, and she immediately wants to know more about this 'Host Club.' Well, turns out that their annual Halloween Masquerade is the same night. Will Kyoya be able to find his Mademoiselle beneath the mask?


_**Hey there! It's Halloween time! I hope you have your costume good and ready…unlike me! *snicker* I'm the world's biggest procrastinator, I swear…Anywho, this idea came to me kind of suddenly, and I wanted to share it with all you lovely people! So, I hope you like, "Halloween Masquerade"**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran Highschool Host Club. End of story.**_

* * *

My footsteps echoed down the street as I frantically rushed to get to school on time. I had a pretty rash reputation for being late, and I didn't want to add any more to that than I had to. Especially on my first day at a new school. I mentally scolded myself as I rounded the corner to the main street where my school was locate. I ran up to the front gates, through the courtyard and quickly ran inside. I still had a minute or two before the bell rang for class, so I skipped my locker and ran straight to class. Thank goodness I had taken a tour of the school the week before, or I definitely would have been late.

I practically stumbled into the classroom, gaining some strange looks from the others in the room. Great…not my most graceful entrance. I coughed slightly and looked around the room for an empty seat. I noticed there was only one empty seat available near the window, so I quickly made my way over to the seat and sat down quietly. It didn't take long for the rest of the students to lose interest and resume their idle chit-chat with each other.

"Alright, class," the teacher announced. "Please, quiet down. We have a lot to cover today. But, first, we have a new guest today. Her name is Casey, and I want you all to welcome her kindly." This earned me some inaudible and nonchalant greetings from the other students in the class, and I kindly nodded at the class with my best smile. Afterwards, the teacher went straight into the lesson for the day. I sighed, wiping the smile from my face immediately, and turned to the front of the room. Being in the back was convenient, however. It allowed me to be less attentive towards the others in the room.

When the bell rang for classes to change, I stood up quietly and gathered my things. Before I left, I was stopped by a boy with black hair and glasses. He smiled down at me before speaking up.  
"I welcome to you, Madame, to Ouran Academy," he said with a smooth voice. "I hope you enjoy your stay here." He bowed slightly and walked off. Who was that boy? I didn't have time to find out, though, seeing as my next class awaited me.

As I walked off to my next class, I avoided eye-contact with anybody, as I normally did. I didn't have time for anybody else, even if they attempted to speak with me. I made my way down the hallway and entered my classroom, and there he was again. However, this time, he was more focused on some kind of paperwork. Noticing the seat behind him being vacant, I quickly took my place there, once again by the window in the back. There seemed to be a pattern here. However, when I looked to the boy's right, there was a strange blonde boy that seemed to be trying to get this boy's attention. He was extremely obnoxious and flamboyant, and seemed almost foreign (from Japan, anyway).

Suddenly, the blonde caught my eye and stared at me for a moment before getting up and walking over to me. I quickly turned my head to look out the window, but it was too late, for he had walked up to my desk and held out a rose to me.

"Well, hello there, Princess," he said in a romantic voice. "And, what might your name be?"

I looked at him and took the rose slowly.

"Casey…" I said quietly. It was strange to see him act like this towards me…it was strange for _any_ boy to act this way towards _me_ of all people.

"Well, Princess Casey," he continued. "Would you like to join us later in the day? We would love to have you."

"Join you…for what?" I asked. He smiled sweetly at me.

"Why, join us at the Ouran Highschool Host Club, of course. You have heard of it, right?" he asked. I shook my head.

"No…" I said quietly. "This is my first day here…" He seemed kind of embarrassed.

"Oh, my apologies, princess."

_"Well, you haven't seen me before, so obviously I'm new,"_ I thought to myself. This boy was definitely not the brightest.

I nodded at him before turning my head back towards the window. He coughed slightly to regain my attention. I sighed before turning back to him.

"If you don't mind my asking again, princess…" he started. "Would you care to join us later?" I looked at him for a while, before sighing inwardly.

"Only if you stop calling me 'princess,'" I said with a small smirk. I glanced in front of me for a moment at the boy in front of me and then back at the blonde boy who was now beaming with joy.

"Lovely! We shall collect you at the end of your day today!" he said with enthusiasm, before practically bouncing up to his seat again. I smiled slightly before turning my attention back outside. I didn't notice, but I could have sworn I saw the black-haired boy glance back at me for a moment, but carefully tucked the thought away in the back of my mind.

The day went by rather quickly, and before long, I was staring intently at the clock on the wall, waiting for the large hand to come to its destination at the top of the clock. I sat staring at my book lazily, waiting for the elusive ring of the bell to signal the end of the day. It seemed like the seconds were just dragging on and on, never ending. Finally, the beautiful sound of the bell broke me from my internal complaining, and I quickly jumped out of my seat, gathered my things, and waited quietly outside the classroom door.

Expecting to see the blonde-haired boy, I was instead greeted by the boy with the black hair and glasses. He smiled gently at me before speaking up.

"I'm afraid I haven't formerly introduced myself. My name is Kyoya Ootori, third son of the Ootori family." I nodded at him.

"Casey Klinger. One and only daughter of the Klinger family," I said with a wink. He chuckled lightly.

"You just transferred from America, correct? Your Japanese is very well-spoken," he complimented. I smiled.

"Thank you, very much," I said. "Yes, I just came over from America. I travel a lot with my mother, seeing as work takes her everywhere. She decided that Japan wouldn't be a bad place to stay permanently, though. So, you won't be seeing me leave for quite some time."

"I'm very glad to hear that," he said with a slight nod. "Would you kindly come with me, then? The others are waiting your arrival." He held out his arm, and I slowly cradled my arm in his. I could feel my face heat up slightly, so I turned my head to look at the wall while we made our way to our destination.

It didn't take long for a conversation to take place, however. Soon, I couldn't shut up. I was talking about positively everything to this boy. He just listened to my rambling about pointless facts and stories as we made our way up the steps to the second floor of the building, throwing in comments and such when he could.

When we got to the end of the hallway, we stopped in front of a door labeled 'Music Room 3.' I looked up at Kyoya. He held out his arm and gestured for me to enter the room. I slowly reached for the handle and opened the door. A rush of rose petals blew gently across my face as I was greeted with a warm light when I entered the room.

Not only was I greeted with the warm light, but with the aroma of tea and pastries. I looked around and saw that there were tables filled with just that. Cake, cookies, sweets of all kinds, and tea. So much tea and coffee. I glanced at the other tables in the room and quickly found the blonde boy entertaining a few women. He seemed to have the same kind of charm he did when he was speaking to me. I looked around a bit more and saw a few other boys in the room; a set of twins, and a smaller blonde accompanied by an extremely tall black-haired boy.

"Wow…this place is beautiful," I managed to say quietly. That was all I could really come out with to describe the room.

"I'm glad you like it, Miss Klinger," Kyoya said from behind me. I looked at him.

"Please, no formalities if you don't mind. Casey is just fine," I said with a smile. He nodded.

"Very well, then," he replied.

"Princess, welcome!" I heard someone call. I looked over to see the blonde boy come up to me.

"Casey, this is Tamaki. Our King of the Host Club," Kyoya explained.

I chuckled at Tamaki. "Please, no 'princess' if you would. Casey is just fine," I said. I didn't like the formalities very much.

"Oh, alright," Tamaki said. "Welcome to the Host Club! I hope you enjoy yourself while you're here."

"Hey, Boss! Who's the new girl?" I heard two voices call. I looked over and saw the twins walking towards us.

"Hikaru. Kaoru. This is Casey," Tamaki explained. "She is new to the Host Club, so show her the utmost respect she deserves." He said this a little fore warningly, and it made my smirk a bit.

"Hi, there," the twins said in unison.

"I'm Hikaru, and this is my brother, Kaoru," the one said.

"We're glad you could make it today," the other finished. I made note of who was who, hoping to be able to figure it out in the future.

"Today's a very special day, as well," the twins said in unison with large grins.

"Oh?" I managed to say. "How so?"

"Well, today we're announcing our annual Halloween Masquerade!" Hikaru said.

"It's an annual event that the Host Club holds every year for all the guests to come and enjoy themselves," Kaoru finished.

"You _are_ coming, right?" they said, getting extremely close to my face. I took a small step backwards at the close proximity.

"I…don't know, yet," I managed to get out.

"Casey~!" I heard a small voice yell. Suddenly, I was being tightly embraced by the small blonde boy that I saw earlier.

"H-Hi, there…" I said.

"Casey, this is Mitskuni Hanninozuka, and Takashi Morinozuka," I heard Kyoya explain from behind me.

"Casey! Wanna go have some cake with me?" Honey-sempai asked. I smiled at him.

"Maybe later, okay?" I asked. He grinned before bouncing back over to his table where a few ladies waited for his return.

"Hi, there. You must be Casey," I heard someone say. I looked over and saw a…_boy?_…walking over towards me.

"Yeah, that's me," I said. "and, you are…?" I asked.

"My name is Haruhi. Haruhi Fujioka," he said. This one seemed very…_feminine_. I decided to keep that thought to myself.

"Nice to meet you," I said with a smile.

"Well, prin-" Tamaki started, but then corrected himself. "I mean…Casey. What do you think of the Host Club?" I looked at him before giving my answer.

"Well, it's nice, but what exactly do you do here?" I asked.

"I'm glad you asked," he said with a grin. "Let me show you." He got extremely close to me all of a sudden. I didn't like it too much, but didn't want to be rude, so I said nothing.

"The Ouran Highschool Host Club! The Ouran host Club is where the school's handsomest boys with too much time on their hands entertain young ladies who also have way too much time on their hands. Just think of it as Ouran academy's elegant playground for the super rich and beautiful," Tamaki said. I listened to his small speech for a moment before smiling.

"Well, I'm glad to be here, Tamaki-sempai," I said. I looked around at the room at the other ladies, who seemed to be having a great time. _"Why not…it sounds fun…"_ I thought.

"Tamaki~!" I heard a few girls call, followed by a number of other girls calling different hosts back to their tables. I looked back to Tamaki.

"You're welcome to join any of our tables," Tamaki said, gesturing to the other tables. I looked around at them. I saw the Twins entertaining a few ladies by…well…let's just say that it wasn't something a normal pair of brothers would do. I turned to the table with Honey-sempai and Mori-sempai. Honey-sempai was busily stuffing his face with a piece of cheesecake, while Mori-sempai sat back and watched. Haruhi seemed busy taking trays of tea around to other tables, so I figured I wouldn't bother him. Finally, there was Tamaki's table, where he was charming a few ladies with sweet compliments and smooth talk. I didn't find much interest in the other tables.

"Have you decided, Madame?" I heard someone ask from behind me. I turned and saw Kyoya smiling down at me.

"I'm…not sure," I said, taking another look around the room. I looked back at Kyoya and noticed he wasn't busy with anyone at the moment. "You're not busy are you?" I asked. He looked at me for a moment, and shook his head.

"Not especially, no," he said. I smiled at him.

"Would you mind entertaining me then, Kyoya?" I asked with a grin. He smiled.

"Not at all, Mademoiselle," he said, gesturing to a table. I followed him over and sat down in a chair on one side of the table, while he in the opposite chair on the other side.

"So, you have no interest in any of the other tables?" Kyoya asked. I shook my head at him.

"Nah…Besides, you looked far less busy than the other hosts," I said. I looked at him. "You weren't busy…were you?" He smiled.

"Of course not," he said. "Was there something in particular you wished to talk about, then?"

"Well…Nothing in particular. Just a friendly chat, is all," I said. He nodded upon hearing this.

For quite a while I sat talking to Kyoya, learning about him, his family, and also telling him about my life as well. He seemed far more interested in me than anything. We soon got on the topic of music, which was what I lived for.

"So, you play four different instruments, then?" Kyoya asked. I nodded happily.

"Yeah, I play the French Horn, which is my main instrument, along with the Piano, Mellophone, and Flute," I explained.

"Fascinating…" he said. I continued on and on about music. I was afraid the guy would have gotten up and left. But, after a while of talking, we were interrupted by the soft clapping of Tamaki's hands to attract everyone's attention.

"Everyone, may I have your attention, please?" Tamaki said. The room went silent for a moment. I turned from my chair to look at Tamaki.

"Tonight, is our annual Halloween Masquerade! We welcome you all and encourage you to attend this most special event! The entire Host Club will be attending, so we hope to see you all there! We encourage you all to wear your best attire to this event. And remember, being a masquerade, don't forget your masks! Part of the fun of the night is guessing who the woman behind the mask is…" He winked as he finished. He was very flamboyant while announcing this, I almost struggled to not chuckle.

I sat back down in my seat and stared down at my current attire. I didn't even have a school uniform, let alone a dress for this event. So, I put the idea of me attending in the back of my mind.

"Are you alright?" Kyoya's voice broke me from my thoughts.

"Y-Yes. I'm fine…" I said. I tried to make it less obvious that I was avoiding eye-contact.

"Will you be attending the Masquerade?" Kyoya asked. I looked at him upon hearing this.

"I…Well…I'm not sure," I said after a moment's hesitation.

"We would very much like for you to attend," he continued. He held out his hand to me. "Miss Klinger, would you care to attend our Halloween Masquerade tonight, and allow me to be your escort for the night?" He offered. I grinned at him as I took his hand.

"Only if you can find the woman beneath the mask," I said with a grin.

* * *

**_Later that night…_**

"Ugh~!" I flopped violently on my bed in defeat. "It's hopeless…I don't have _anything_ suited to this Masquerade…Why did I even agree to go…"

I had been busy rummaging through my closet in search for something suitable to wear to this event, but to no avail. I was beginning to think that it was a mistake to even consider going. I was just about to call it off, when I heard a soft rap at my door.

"Casey, dear," I heard my mother's voice call through the door. "May I come in?" She asked.

"Yeah, sure," I called back. I sat up just as she had opened the door. If I had to picture her face at the sight of my cluttered room, it would complete and utter shock.

"Casey! What have you done to your room!?" She asked.

"I'm trying to find something for tonight's Masquerade…but I haven't found anything. It's hopeless!" I fell back onto my bed.

"_You're_ going to a party?" She asked.

"It's not just any party," I corrected her. "It's a Halloween Masquerade, sponsored by the Host Club. I promised to attend, but now I have nothing to wear…" I drooped my head in defeat. I then heard the faint sound of my mother's light chuckle. I looked up at her.

"Why didn't you tell me you needed a dress? I have just the one!" She said, motioning for me to follow her. I did so, and followed her into her bedroom. She went over to her closet and flung open the doors, digging deep in the back of the closet. "I didn't think I would need this anymore, so I put it away. I didn't think I would be getting it out again."

She pulled out a large garment bag and laid it out on her bed. She unzipped the zipper and opened the bag so the dress was in plain sight. I grinned happily at it.

"It's perfect…"

* * *

**_General POV_**

The Masquerade had just begun, and the hosts were all happily dancing with partners. All except Kyoya, of course, who was busily greeting guests who were still arriving. Of course, he had other plans for this tactic. Whether the guests noticed or not, Kyoya was carefully scanning each and every guest and their masks to find a specific someone. After greeting what seemed like all of the guests, Kyoya made his way back into the room. He had other guests to entertain after all.

The night dragged on, and soon, all the guests had partners and were happily dancing to a waltz that sounded a few clicks less than cheerful - which fit the Halloween theme of the party perfectly. Kyoya was busily dancing with a partner, when he spotted a young miss walking shyly into the room. He was just about to bid his partner farewell at the end of the dance, when a new one arrived. However, he wanted terribly to greet this young woman. Before he could get a chance to object, the new partner placed herself in his grasp, and started leading on her own to the new song.

Something about this song struck something in the young man's mind, however. In this particular number, you were required to switch partners every so often as the song instructed. He found this perfectly convenient, given the situation at the time. So, he decided to go with the song, keeping his eyes on both his partner, and his maiden he was searching for.

The song went on for what seemed like forever, and for a moment, Kyoya had began to lose sight of his woman in question. He was beginning to believe it was just a trick of the light, and that he had just imagined the girl. Not long after, the song finished, and he was still no closer to finding this girl.

"Kyoya!" Tamaki called. The boy in question turned to find Tamaki waving him over. Kyoya turned to his previous partner, bowed politely, and excused himself.

"Yes, Tamaki?" Kyoya said.

"What do you think? Even better than last year, right?" Tamaki said, staring around the room. Kyoya nodded briefly, not letting his gaze fall from the crowd, still in search of the mysterious girl.

"Indeed, Tamaki," Kyoya said.

The night continued on and soon, Kyoya had forgotten all about the young miss he had seen enter. He was busy conversing with Tamaki, when the musicians started playing another Waltz. As most of the other Hosts grabbed partners, Kyoya had stayed off to the side. At least, he had planned to, when he felt a small tug on his sleeve. He turned to see a small girl wearing a dark black dress and a wolf mask.

"E-Excuse me…Would you…care to dance?" the girl asked. Kyoya looked at this girl for a while, before smiling and extending his hand to the small girl.

"But, of course," he said.

The two of them danced during the entire dance, not exchanging partners at all. Soon, one dance turned into two; and then two into three. Soon, they danced almost the entire night, not taking any breaks. Then, as if having a change of heart, the young girl waited until the end of the song, and immediately let go of Kyoya.

"I'm sorry…but I need some fresh air," she said. She quickly picked up her gown and ran for the balcony. Kyoya watched the girl as she left. He knew who it was immediately. Not long after she left, Kyoya walked after her.

* * *

**_Casey's POV_**

I stood on the balcony, staring up at the sky; no the moon. I stared intently at the moon, as if my mind was saying that if I looked away, it would be gone the next time I looked. So, I stared for what seemed like forever.

"Ah, there you are," I heard a voice say. I turned my head slightly to see Kyoya walking out onto the balcony. I made sure my mask was secure and that he didn't see my face.

"Care for a refreshment?" he asked as he held up a cup in front of me. I gladly took it and sipped at the liquid quietly.

"Thank you…" I said quietly.

"A wolf, then?" he mused out loud. "Very nice choice." I looked at him.

"You…" Was all I managed to say.

"Seems like I was able to find the woman in the mask, no?" Kyoya said with a grin. I smiled up at him, pushing my mask up to reveal my face.

"Seems so," I said. He placed a hand on mine that was resting on the balcony banister. I smiled at him, before turning my gaze up to the moon.

"Beautiful night…" he mused.

"It is…" I said. "Kyoya…"

"Hm…?" he turned towards me. "Yes?" I smiled.

"How did you know it was me?" I asked. He smirked at me.

"Something just told me that you would be the woman behind the 'wolf'" He said with a grin.

* * *

_**There you have it! I know, pretty dull ending, but I wanted to get this up in time for Halloween! Look how well that worked out…Anyway, hope you enjoyed this little blurb! I came up with this idea out of the blue, and just had to get it into story-format. Hope you liked it! Rate, Review, Comment, and Criticize!**_

_**Happy Halloween!**_

_**Ciao!**_

_**Here are the photos that inspired my look in this…**_

photos/34671063 N02/3379127628/in/photostream/ **_(Ball Gown)_**

fs44/f/2009/148/b/6/Kuroinu_Japanese_Wolf_Mask_by_ **_(Mask)_**


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